Farang cannot know Thai-ness

[jpk]

Thai-ness? American-ness, Black-ness, white-ness, Isaan-ness, racist-ness?

I just find it difficult to understand Ignorance-ness.

I'd better buy some red Fanta and put it next to a tree so Gumarn doesn't tickle my nose.

[jcwilcox]

This current flooding is just one more example of "Thai-ness". A little awareness and vision many years ago would have avoided this disaster. But there we are, sabai, sabai, mai pen rai.

[ludic]

"This current flooding is just one more example of 'Thai-ness' "

Spare a thought for all those people of any ethnicity now disposessed by the floods.

But funny that - I was only thinking the same thing when New Orleans was inundated and again earlier this year in the Queensland floods. Maybe there was a kind of 'Thai-ness' involved in the lack of foresight exhibited there too. In the UK it's all put down to the weather - but that's just a superstitious, cultural explanation as we all know. Somehow I get the feeling 'Thai-ness' may not be the sole -prerogative of the Thais - Mae mi bin hah?

[polvern]

for the most part i agree; we that live here permanently are only interested in observing thaIness to enjoy the positives of the place and avoid the negatives; i dont want to become thai any more than i want to live in a hospital; we see what thaIness amounts to in the current flood fup
the massive broad based stupidity,racism, horrid visa system, tragicomical corruption and monstrous inefficiency here cannot be directly confronted; only avoided when posssible;
please please spare me the if-you-dont-like-it-go-home mantra;;it is quite stale and does not address any current points

[phardy]

@gohmer

"And what gets me the most is how Thailand tells western countries, most notably the US, to stay out of their internal affairs, but then only weeks later, the same public officials plead with those same western countries, again, most notably the US, for financial assistance and investment - all to the complete oblivion of the typical Thai. In non-Thai-ness terms, this is called "hypocrisy".[/quote]

What gets in the way of each culture is what they hold dear to themselves. Whether it is superstition, fear or optimism, or in the case of the American government, their desire to please the money makers. This kind of blindness to one's self always leads to hypocrisy and ridiculous decisions that get in the way of the public good. I write this simply as I am amazed/ astounded that in order to appease the lobbyists opposed to Mr Obama's health reforms regarding school meals, congress has declared that pizza is officially a vegetable. Can that make any less sense than decisions any country makes in order to preserve internal harmony?

[sati]

Actually, some Falang know more Thai-ness than they really want to.

[Da Rik]

I have been married to my Thai wife since 2006. We married in the UK and when I retired in 2009 we returned to Thailand to live. Since that date her immediate family have, one by one, moved back into the family home, because they feel they cannot afford to live by themselves. Since they have all come to home my expenditure has risen by roughly 250%. I now realize that it wasn’t that they couldn’t afford to live by themselves but, they couldn’t afford the same lifestyle as my wife and I. None of them contribute one baht to my wife’s budget, to the contrary, my wife is always giving them money. If I complain about it she tells me it is her duty to care for her family. Very commendable and may she gain many Merits, but is it fair to deplete my meager pension to do it? Yes….it is correct to say that this Farang does not understand Thai-ness.

[zenchido]

Thai-ness - this is a very interesting word.

Is that a word like unique- ness.

I am presently married to so call educated Thai lady but it her so called thai-ness that keeps us apart. She and her family seem to mainly concerned with their image and appearance as most of the Thai elite do.
They think like the person who wrote this article that the Farang cannot fully understand them. Well, guess what the Japanese, the Koreans, and the Chinese think the same. It has nothing to do with Thai-ness. It is called a feeling of being unique. Every person as well as a country want itself to be unique or separate in some way from others.

So the blue-eyed Farang cannot belong to any brown-eyed group. Other Asians seem to understand the Thai-ness. So this Thai-ness seems to have a racial tendency behind it. Are most of the Elite Thai racist? I do not know. However, they were very eager to collect the money from the UN when their country was under water. Maybe the Farang should stop giving and let the elite live like rats swimming around the water.

However, most of the Farang are very kind and giving. I can remember the days of always paying double because I am a Farang while the Chinese pay the nomal Thai-ness price. What's up with that picture? The Thais seem to be so spiritual and worhip Buddha - but so many haven't a clue who Buddha really is or even understand half of what he taught. The Thais always talk about karma. So they should look deeply at what Karma really means.

Here is a good question? Why is your country so dirty with all the garbage there in October? I can understand the flood maybe being an act of nature - but the garbage wasn't. I felt ashamed when I had to take a boat and truck to get to buy food. My wife loves her country so she stayed. As for me, I got out of there.

It is time for the Thai elite to stop controlling and brainwashing their so call Thai peoples. There is a reason why the temples are under the water. There is a reason why Taksin wants to come back. All creation begins with intention. My intention is to shine light on all the ignorance in this material world.

[phsworld]

If the Farang tries to find the answer thru teachings in debate or as in looking for an answer with a visit to some locals via dark tavens of dismay then he shall not find it, nor should he!
If a Farang is fortunate and can find this Thai- ness as i beleived that to have felt its warmth I found it and after eleven years now to Evolve asto Develope with some truely specia influencial persons in the past we have to look at synergy between our knowledge of our history ( Maggie Thatcher ) To have the understanding of Systems, maybe some miss-understand & Those (Thai-ness) Elements either in thier controls or under control of thier peers, Scholaships to the U.K (O.E.S.A.) of Passion for knowledge to Broardend thier minds by means of Travel and Education passing the message in an unspoken way. Its not about common sense yes we call common courtasy as I speak No Thai,not even to count to ten, but listen with my heart, from gossip, to views and of second families in business by the simplicity of Cross cultureunderstandings, modern systems and our joint abilities to ensure history only repeats those possitives.
Those who use an influential position to generate mistrust, miss teach a new generation of exceptional achievers should be ashamed, its is us Farangs to show compassion when teaching, for it is a medical student who would questionthis simple question of if a Farang could know. It would be a masterwho gave me a title once of little Brother, as in his best is in cultural Thai and every true friend was his sister and Brother P'Dang to me it was my Hospitality.

[jerrelli]

lol@ccarbaugh You seem to have no clue whatsoever as to what makes a woman a woman. I would suggest that you begin to think less about what you intend to get out of your interaction with the ladies and begin to consider more what is in her mind and what she perceives about you, and where that perception leaves you in her eyes.

Having said that, the thread (I believe), is about "Thai-ness". I am American, and I love my country but I have come to fear my government. Americans by and large still are convinced of their "freedom". In truth Americans are free only to do what the American Government says they are allowed to do, sadly these things they are yet free to do, diminish daily as socialism is pushed farther and farther down their throats by an extremist left government based in socialism and Islamist fraternization. America is lost. I am going to expatriate to Thailand if it is possible for I have found the most exquisite lady there I have ever met, and I will marry her and live and die in Thailand, if the Thai Government will allow me to stay. The blind faith and total apathy of the American people to stop the socialization and subsequent destruction of their society by a foreigner who is a consummate deceiver and a thief, is in some ways similar to the Thais having a certain blindness to current Thailand affairs. It would seem to the outside observer, like a person in my position, that the masses in any society often choose to ignore those problems in their society that will cause them personal troubles to aggressively attack or address. The standing order of the day seems to be: "Ignore what is too diffucult to change and do not make waves if you are in a small boat." As long as the people of any society are willing to allow their government to operate in a corrupt fasion, that government will become and remain as corrupt as it possibly can and still maintain itself. Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. This is something that is the same in every country on this earth, it is the way of things, it is not good or bad, it just is.